Hello everyone, I'm using a business plan format as a way to document my knowledge and findings while performing some due diligence on a business idea. I was wondering if anyone had, or knew where I could find, some really good examples that I could take a loot at.<p>Thanks,
I know this doesn't answer your question, but I have to ask: why are you even writing up a business plan?<p>I don't mean to be harsh, but in Silicon Valley writing up a business plan is seen by many as a <i>negative</i> signal. Lots of people (myself included) see it as something a business student with no real-world experience would do as their first step.<p>The reason for this is simple: you can't <i>really</i> know if users will actually like or use or pay for your product. A business plan is only going to be a bunch of guesses, the vast majority of which will turn out to be unfounded. If you think you can predict what users will like before users themselves tell you, then you should change your first name to Steve and your last name to Jobs. So instead of spending time on a business plan, the recommended route is to build a quick prototype and see how users respond to that.<p>An exception to this might be if the product you're building is something <i>you</i> need, in which case it might be excusable to build something that's more than just a prototype. Nonetheless, the same problem applies: you don't really know if <i>other</i> people will find what you build useful until you get it in front of them.
May I suggest you opt at creating a business canvas. Less verbose and more direct than a x-page doc file. Easier to on-board people with it as well. Once you have the canvas its going to be easier drilling down on the details.<p><a href="http://www.businessmodelgeneration.com/canvas" rel="nofollow">http://www.businessmodelgeneration.com/canvas</a><p><a href="http://leancanvas.com/" rel="nofollow">http://leancanvas.com/</a>